The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) has initiated steps to enter the National Men’s Under 17 Team into the TT Pro League’s Under 18 Division.

The intention, recommended by Head Coach, Russell Latapy, and supported by the TTFA’s Technical Director, Anton Corneal, is to afford the current squad of players the opportunity to be actively involved in competition as it continues its preparations for forthcoming CONCACAF qualification tournaments.

The TTFA wishes to state that it had initiated dialogue with the management of the TT Pro League. TTFA
General Secretary, Justin Latapy-George, gave the assurance on Friday that the National Under 17 Team, once permitted by the Pro League, will appear in the competition as a National Team and not compete under the title of any other team. Additionally, the General Secretary noted that there had been some disquiet among our stakeholders based on this matter so he needed to clearly state the position of the TTFA.

“What we have done is to further actions related to our discourse by writing to the League requesting it’s consideration to allow the Association’s National Under 17 Team to compete in the Under 18 Division of the Pro League. We believe that we have submitted a request that will receive favourable consideration. However, irrespective of the final decision of the League it is important that I extend thanks for their consideration. It is pivatol that I again note that if our application is accepted that the team will compete as the National Under 17 Team ,” Latapy-George stated

Both Latapy-George and Technical Director Corneal stated that it was evident that this type of approach proved to be successful in the past, making reference to the Under 20 Team of 2008, participating in and winning the National Super League that year before going on to qualify for the 2009 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Egypt.

Corneal reiterated the importance of having the Under 17 and Under 20 men’s team in active competition prior to their respective qualifying tournaments later this year.

“We feel this is the best way to go in terms of trying to ensure that the teams are in active competition over a specific period which falls in line with their preparations prior to the Concacaf qualifying matches,” Corneal said. “We have seen what doing this in the past has done, case in point the 2009 team that went on to qualify for the U-20 World Cup and coupled with the international matches that the FA may be able to organise along the way, this could only positively assist us in preparing the teams going into the qualifiers,” Corneal added.

The Trinidad and Tobago Football Association was formed on July 23rd, 1908. Expatriate workers who taught the game to locals played the game in the oilfields.

A certain player by the name of Dwight Yorke captained this country to its first ever FIFA World Cup, the 1991 FIFA Under 20 World Cup in Portugal. And in 2006 he also captained the Senior Men's Team to the 2006 World Cup in Germany